APRIL 2025
Bolton Branch AGM (Annual General Meeting)
was held on Wednesday 12 March 2025 th
AndreaEgan BranchSecretary
Another quorate meeting. Thank you to the 100+ members who attended!! It was a great event.
Well done to Oluwaseyi Bamisaye (Shay) our steward and migrant worker organiser at Bolton Cares, for being nominated for the Graham Walmsley Activist Award.
Gerry O’Gorman was a fantastic addition this year and really set the mood for the meeting, which I felt was upbeat.
Our new steward Sue Bennett (second on the left) , brought along some of the members of the dispute they had with the council – and WON.
Left to right: Guest Speaker David Jones (Branch Secretary, Wirral Branch), Phil Chanin (Branch Chair) Andrea Egan (Branch Secretary), and Sarah Trendall (Branch Office Manager) Didn’t manage to attend? but want to see what the Branch is up to? SCAN the QR code to a copy of the Branch AGM Papers.
The claim is now live. The branch has produced pay claim flyers. Plans are now underway in the branch to get the information on your notice boards – look out for them. The branch has a new ‘update my details form’, which requests members provide us with a personal email address. See separate flyer.
Greater Manchester University
Oh no, we are there again! UCU and UNISON have consulted staff on a vote of no confidence. When will George take the hit for his miserable failings? The vote saw a big turnout for a ‘Vote of No Confidence’. This has been fed back to the governing body. The Branch has also been interviewed with the Bolton News to put forward the real challenges our members face working in such a toxic environment and are working in an increasingly difficult situation.
Branch work with Bolton Council
Lead officers are Andrea Egan, Branch Secretary and Christine Collins, Assistant Branch Secretary. We have commenced preliminary work with officers on the Workforce Audit. This is a big piece of work, which should be reviewed annually but hasn’t been visited for a number of years. Within that work, we intend to look at application of allowances and enhancements paid by the council to ensure we are legally Equal Pay compliant. But we will also be considering the councils Equality work. Bolton UNISON Branch submitted with the agreement of GMB, a paper which seeks the Council enters into negotiations of a 35 hour working week and to revisit the current mileage allowance. These will be formally submitted and we will keep members updated.
Skills for Strength (NW Regional Organising event)
on Saturday 15 March. th
This was attended by activists in the branch in their own time. The event was another great day celebrating our successes as a union and hearing some great ideas for organising our activists.
We also won an award!! There were 3 winners in the region, awarded for their organising. Bolton Branch shared the award with Salford on our work with our Migrant Workers Network. Shay was there to receive the award with myself on behalf of the branch, Christine Collins was also in attendance and helped record the event.
I attended a workshop called Workers Power ‘Political education and organising’ – a trade union education course. It was a powerful session run by The Rosa Luxemburg Foundation, who run a 2-3 day political education course for trade union members, in particular for members who are new to activism. I am in talks with the organiser Deborah Hermanns, to put on the training for our new activists. BUT if you feel you want to take the next steps as a steward and start getting involved, this might be a great way to start. Interested? Email admin@unisonbolton.org with your expression of interest and I’ll be in touch.